Former Tetsujiro Haruta Residence in Nagoya

21/05/2025

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You’ll need some Japanese to visit, but it’s a place where your efforts may not feel rewarded.

I already gave away the conclusion in the title, but to sum it up: if you’re an international traveler, I don’t think it’s worth visiting. That said, let me first explain what the Haruta Tetsujirō Residence is.

The former Haruta Tetsujirō Residence is a historic Western-style house located in Nagoya, Japan. Built in the early 20th century, it blends Western architecture with traditional Japanese elements. Haruta Tetsujirō was a successful businessman, and his home reflects the lifestyle of wealthy citizens of that era. Today, it is preserved as a cultural asset and occasionally open to the public.

I visited on a Saturday. To enter this residence, you need to personally ask the staff at the Toyoda Sasuke Residence for permission. The staff are elderly Japanese volunteers, so communication must be done in Japanese.

To begin with, even the elderly staff member seemed unsure whether it was okay to guide visitors to the Tetsujirō Residence on a Saturday. The residence is not open to the general public; visits are only allowed when accompanied by a volunteer staff member.

Although a staff member must accompany you, admission is free. As shown in the photo above, the entrance is small and resembles a traditional old-style Japanese house.

The interior of the house is dim and narrow. If you’re wearing a backpack, be careful—it’s so tight that you might accidentally bump into or catch on something behind you.

In the tatami room, products used at the time are on display. All the information is written in Japanese.

An American-made ice cream machine is on display. It seems that wealthy people used it back then.

The residence has a second floor that you can also tour, but it’s small, so the visit usually takes about 20 minutes. It’s cramped and potentially unsafe for groups, and since the application process requires Japanese, it’s quite difficult. If you really want to go, you can give it a try, but I don’t think it’s necessary to make a special effort

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I’ve compiled a list of Nagoya’s places that I’ve personally visited. Is Nagoya boring? Not at all! While it has developed as an industrial city, it also hides interesting places full of history and culture. Use this guide to explore Nagoya and discover its hidden gems.